The New Thought movement (also Higher Thought) is a spiritual movement that coalesced in the United States in the early 19th century. New Thought was seen by its adherents as succeeding "ancient thought", accumulated wisdom and philosophy from a variety of origins, such as
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
,
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
,
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
,
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
,
Taoist
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
,
Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
,
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, and
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
cultures and their related belief systems, primarily regarding the interaction between thought, belief, consciousness in the human mind, and the effects of these within and beyond the human mind. Though no direct line of transmission is traceable, many adherents to New Thought in the 19th and 20th centuries claimed to be direct descendants from those systems.
Although there have been many leaders and various offshoots of the New Thought philosophy, the
origins of New Thought have often been traced back to
Phineas Quimby
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (February 16, 1802 – January 16, 1866) was an American clockmaker, mentalist and mesmerist. His work is widely recognized as foundational to the New Thought spiritual movement.
Biography
Born in the small town of Leba ...
, or even as far back as
Franz Mesmer
Franz Anton Mesmer (; ; 23 May 1734 – 5 March 1815) was a German physician with an interest in astronomy. He theorised the existence of a natural energy transference occurring between all animated and inanimate objects; this he called " ani ...
. Many of
these groups are incorporated into the
International New Thought Alliance
The International New Thought Alliance (INTA) is an umbrella organization for New Thought adherents "dedicated to serving the New Thought Movement’s various branches, organizations and individuals". . The contemporary New Thought movement is a loosely allied group of
religious denomination
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities.
The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many varie ...
s, authors,
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
s, and individuals who share a set of beliefs concerning
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
,
positive thinking, the
law of attraction,
healing
With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells i ...
,
life force,
creative visualization, and
personal power
In social science and politics, power is the social production of an effect that determines the capacities, actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force (coercion) by one actor against ...
.
New Thought holds that ''Infinite Intelligence'', or
God, is
everywhere,
spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the
mind
The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.
[.][.] Although New Thought is neither
monolithic
A monolith is a monument or natural feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock.
Monolith or monolithic may also refer to:
Architecture
* Monolithic architecture, a style of construction in which a building is carved, cast or excavated ...
nor
doctrinaire
During the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830) and the July Monarchy (1830–1848), the Doctrinals (french: doctrinaires) were a group of French royalists who hoped to reconcile the monarchy with the French Revolution and power with liberty. Heade ...
, in general, modern-day adherents of New Thought share some core beliefs:
# God or Infinite Intelligence is "supreme, universal, and everlasting";
#
divinity
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine ...](_blank)
dwells within each person, that all people are spiritual beings;
# "the highest spiritual principle
sloving one another unconditionally... and teaching and healing one another"; and
# "our
mental state
A mental state, or a mental property, is a state of mind of a person. Mental states comprise a diverse class, including perception, pain experience, belief, desire, intention, emotion, and memory. There is controversy concerning the exact definiti ...
s are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living".
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
used the term "New Thought" as synonymous with the "Mind cure movement", in which he included many sects with diverse origins, such as
idealism
In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...
and Hinduism.
Overview
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
, in ''
The Varieties of Religious Experience'' (1902), described New Thought as follows:
History
Origins
The New Thought movement was based on the teachings of Phineas Quimby (1802–1866), an American
mesmerist
Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, was a Protoscience#Prescientific protoscience, protoscientific theory developed by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century in relation to what he claimed to be an invisible natural force (''Le ...
and healer. Quimby had developed a belief system that included the tenet that illness originated in the mind as a consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to God's wisdom could overcome any illness. His basic premise was:
During the late 19th century, the metaphysical healing practices of Quimby mingled with the "Mental Science" of
Warren Felt Evans
Warren Felt Evans (December 23, 1817 – September 4, 1889) was an American author of the New Thought movement. He became a student of the movement in 1863, after seeking healing from its founder, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby. He was the founder of a ...
, a
Swedenborgian
The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) is any of several historically related Christian denominations that developed as a new religious group, influenced by the writings of scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772).
Swedenborgian or ...
minister.
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of
Christian Science
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...
, has sometimes been cited as having used Quimby as inspiration for theology. Eddy was a patient of Quimby's and shared his view that disease is rooted in a mental cause. Because of its theism, Christian Science differs from the teachings of Quimby.
In the late 19th century, New Thought was propelled by a number of spiritual thinkers and philosophers and emerged through a variety of religious denominations and churches, particularly the
Unity Church and
Church of Divine Science (established in 1889 and 1888, respectively), followed by
Religious Science (established in 1927).
Many of its early teachers and students were women; notable among the founders of the movement were
Emma Curtis Hopkins
Emma Curtis Hopkins (September 2, 1849 – April 8, 1925 age 75) was an American spiritual teacher and leader. She was involved in organizing the New Thought movement and was a primary theologian, teacher, writer, feminist, mystic, and healer, w ...
, known as the "teacher of teachers",
Myrtle Fillmore
Mary Caroline "Myrtle" Page Fillmore (August 6, 1845 – October 6, 1931) was an American who was co-founder of Unity, a church within the New Thought Christian movement, along with her husband Charles Fillmore. Before that she worked as a sc ...
,
Malinda Cramer, and
Nona L. Brooks
Nona Lovell Brooks (March 22, 1861 – March 14, 1945), described as a "prophet of modern mystical Christianity", was a leader in the New Thought movement and a founder of the Church of Divine Science.
Biography
Brooks was born on March 22, 1861 ...
;
[ with many of its churches and community centers led by women, from the 1880s to today.]
Growth
New Thought is also largely a movement of the printed word.[Moskowitz, Eva S. (2001) ''In Therapy We Trust'', The Johns Hopkins University Press, , p. 19.]
Prentice Mulford
Prentice Mulford (April 5, 1834 – c. May 30, 1891) was an American literary humorist and California author. In addition, he was pivotal in the development of the thought within the New Thought movement. Many of the principles that would becom ...
, through writing ''Your Forces and How to Use Them'', a series of essays published during 1886–1892, was pivotal in the development of New Thought thinking, including the Law of Attraction.
In 1906, William Walker Atkinson (1862–1932) wrote and published ''Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World''.[William Walker Atkinson. ''Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction''. Advanced Thought Publishing. 1906.]
Full text public domain version online. Atkinson was the editor of ''New Thought'' magazine and the author of more than 100 books on an assortment of religious, spiritual, and occult
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...
topics. The following year, Elizabeth Towne, the editor of '' The Nautilus'', published Bruce MacLelland's book ''Prosperity Through Thought Force'', in which he summarized the "Law of Attraction" as a New Thought principle, stating "You are what you think, not what you think you are."[MacLelland, Bruce, ''Prosperity Through Thought Force,'' Elizabeth Towne, 1907]
These magazines were used to reach a large audience then, as others are now. ''Nautilus'' magazine, for example, had 45,000 subscribers and a total circulation of 150,000.[ One Unity Church magazine, ''Wee Wisdom'', was the longest-lived children's magazine in the United States, published from 1893 until 1991.][Miller, Timothy (1995) ''America's Alternative Religions'', State University of New York Press, , p. 327.] Today, New Thought magazines include ''Daily Word
The ''Daily Word'' is a daily inspirational message provided by Unity. Themes include inner peace, hope, healing, guidance, and others. It is distributed via print magazine, website, e-mail and through a mobile app.
History
''Daily Word'' magazin ...
'', published by Unity and the Religious Science magazine; and ''Science of Mind
The Religious Science movement, or Science of Mind, was established in 1927 by Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Scien ...
'', published by the Centers for Spiritual Living.
Major gatherings
The 1915 International New Thought Alliance
The International New Thought Alliance (INTA) is an umbrella organization for New Thought adherents "dedicated to serving the New Thought Movement’s various branches, organizations and individuals". (INTA) conference – held in conjunction with the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, a world's fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
that took place in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
– featured New Thought speakers from far and wide. The PPIE organizers were so favorably impressed by the INTA convention that they declared a special "New Thought Day" at the fair and struck a commemorative bronze medal for the occasion, which was presented to the INTA delegates, led by Annie Rix Militz
Annie Rix Militz (1856–1924) was an American author and spiritual leader. An early organizer of the New Thought Movement, she is best known as the founder of Home of Truth. With her sister Harriet Hale Rix, Annie Rix Militz was a founder ...
.[Dresser, Horatio, ]
History of the New Thought Movement
', 1919 By 1916, the International New Thought Alliance had encompassed many smaller groups around the world, adopting a creed known as the "Declaration of Principles".[ The Alliance is held together by one central teaching: that people, through the constructive use of their minds, can attain freedom, power, health, prosperity, and all good, molding their bodies as well as the circumstances of their lives. The declaration was revised in 1957, with all references to Christianity removed, and a new statement based on the "inseparable oneness of God and Man".][
]
Beliefs
The chief tenets of New Thought are:
* Infinite Intelligence or God is omnipotent and omnipresent.
* Spirit is the ultimate reality.
* True human self-hood is divine.
* Divinely attuned thought is a positive force for good.
* All disease is mental in origin.
* Right thinking has a healing effect.
Evolution of thought
Adherents also generally believe that as humankind gains greater understanding of the world, New Thought itself will evolve to assimilate new knowledge. Alan Anderson and Deb Whitehouse have described New Thought as a "process" in which each individual and even the New Thought Movement itself is "new every moment". Thomas McFaul has claimed "continuous revelation", with new insights being received by individuals continuously over time. Jean Houston has spoken of the "possible human", or what we are capable of becoming.
Theological inclusionism
The Home of Truth
The Home of Truth is a New Thought denomination founded in San Francisco, California founded by Annie Rix Militz.
History
In 1887, Annie Rix Milnz attended a class led by Emma Curtis Hopkins in her home city of San Francisco. Applying her m ...
has, from its inception as the Pacific Coast Metaphysical Bureau in the 1880s, under the leadership of Annie Rix Militz
Annie Rix Militz (1856–1924) was an American author and spiritual leader. An early organizer of the New Thought Movement, she is best known as the founder of Home of Truth. With her sister Harriet Hale Rix, Annie Rix Militz was a founder ...
, disseminated the teachings of the Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
teacher Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
. It is one of the more outspokenly interfaith of New Thought organizations, stating adherence to "the principle that Truth is Truth where ever it is found and who ever is sharing it". Joel S. Goldsmith's The Infinite Way The Infinite Way is a spiritual movement and activity created by 20th century American healer, mystic and lecturer Joel S. Goldsmith (1892–1964). According to Goldsmith, the Message of the Infinite Way is a spiritual teaching consisting of p ...
incorporates teaching from Christian Science
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...
, as well.
Therapeutic ideas
Divine Science, Unity Church, and Religious Science are organizations that developed from the New Thought movement. Each teaches that Infinite Intelligence, or God, is the sole reality. New Thought adherents believe that sickness is the result of the failure to realize this truth. In this line of thinking, healing
With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells i ...
is accomplished by the affirmation of oneness with the Infinite Intelligence or God.
John Bovee Dods
John Bovee Dods (26 September 1795 – 21 March 1872) was a philosopher, spiritualist, mesmerist, and early psychologist.
In 1809, as a young teenager, Dods had a waking vision of his recently deceased father, who gave him a message from the spi ...
(1795–1862), an early practitioner of New Thought, wrote several books on the idea that disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
originates in the electrical impulses of the nervous system
In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...
and is therefore curable by a change of belief. Later New Thought teachers, such as the early-20th-century author, editor, and publisher William Walker Atkinson, accepted this premise. He connected his idea of mental states of being with his understanding of the new scientific discoveries in electromagnetism
In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of a ...
and neural
In Biology, biology, the nervous system is the Complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its Behavior, actions and Sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its ...
processes.[Dumont, Theron, Q. [pseudonym of William Walker Atkinson. ''Mental Therapeutics, or Just How to Heal Oneself and Others''. Advanced Thought Publishing Co. Chicago. 1916.]
Criticism
While the beliefs that are held by practitioners of the New Thought movement are similar to many mainstream religious doctrines, there have been concerns raised among scholars and scientists about some of the views surrounding health and wellness that are perpetuated by the New Thought movement. Most pressing is the New Thought movement's rejection of empirically supported scientific theories of the causes of diseases. In scientific medicine, diseases can have a wide range of physical causes, from abnormalities in genes and in cell growth that cause cancer, to virus
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.
Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1 ...
es, bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...
, and fungi
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...
that cause infection
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...
s, to environmental toxin
A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849–19 ...
s that can damage entire organ systems. While it has been empirically supported that the psychological and social health of a person can influence their susceptibility to disease (e.g., stress can suppress immune function
The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...
, which increases risk of infection), critics allege that mental states are not the cause of human disease, as is claimed by the New Thought movement.
Equally concerning, critics argue, is the New Thought movement's emphasis on using faith and mental states as treatments for all human disease. While it has been supported that the use of relaxation therapy
A relaxation technique (also known as relaxation training) is any method, process, procedure, or activity that helps a person to relax; to attain a state of increased calmness; or otherwise reduce levels of pain, anxiety, stress or anger. Relax ...
and other forms of alternative health practices are beneficial in improving the overall well-being of patients with a wide variety of mental and physical health conditions (e.g., cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
), these practices are not effective in treating human disease alone, and should be undertaken in conjunction with modern medical therapies that have empirical support. This rejection of scientifically supported theories of disease and disease treatment is worsened by the New Thought movement's assertion that mental states, attitudes, and faith in New Thought are the sole determinants of health.
The New Thought movement has received criticism akin to that levied against the holistic health movement that in claiming that sickness is caused by a person's attitudes, mental states, and faith, it is easy to place blame on patients for not adopting a correct attitude, thought processes, and/or lifestyle. Blame can have powerful psychological effects – with stress and isolation seen in victim blaming being the largest issues that arise and the most concerning in terms of effect on patients' health.
Movement
New Thought publishing and educational activities reach approximately 2.5 million people annually. The largest New Thought-oriented denomination is the Japanese Seicho-no-Ie. Other belief systems within the New Thought movement include Jewish Science
Jewish Science is a Judaic spiritual movement comparable with the New Thought Movement. Many of its members also attend services at conventional synagogues.
It is an interpretation of Jewish philosophy that was originally conceived by Rabbi ...
, Religious Science, Centers for Spiritual Living and Unity
Unity may refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England
* Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...
. Past denominations have included Psychiana and Father Divine.
Religious Science operates under three main organizations: the Centers for Spiritual Living; the Affiliated New Thought Network
The Affiliated New Thought Network, or ANTN, based in La Mesa, California, is an organization of New Thought centers and individuals across the United States and internationally that was founded in 1992. Recognized as a cooperative fellowship, it ...
; and Global Religious Science Ministries
Global Religious Science Ministries, or GRSM, is an organization representing the Religious Science denomination in the New Thought movement. Centers and churches in the United States, Canada, Central America, South America, Africa, Europe, India, ...
. Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, stated that Religious Science is not based on any "authority" of established beliefs, but rather on "what it can accomplish" for the people who practice it. ''The Science of Mind
''The Science of Mind'' is a book by Ernest Holmes. It proposes a science with a new relationship between humans and God. Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, originally published it in 1926. A revised version was completed by Holmes and Mau ...
'', authored by Ernest Holmes, while based on a philosophy of being "open at the top", focuses extensively on the teachings of Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
.
Unity, founded by Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
and Myrtle Fillmore
Mary Caroline "Myrtle" Page Fillmore (August 6, 1845 – October 6, 1931) was an American who was co-founder of Unity, a church within the New Thought Christian movement, along with her husband Charles Fillmore. Before that she worked as a sc ...
, identifies itself as "Christian New Thought", focused on "Christian idealism", with the Bible as one of its main texts, although not interpreted literally. The other core text is ''Lessons in Truth'' by H. Emilie Cady
Harriet Emilie Cady (July 12, 1848 – January 3, 1941) was an American homeopathic physician and author of New Thought spiritual writings.Vahle(2002), p71 Her 1896 book ''Lessons in Truth, A Course of Twelve Lessons in Practical Christianity'' i ...
. The ''Universal Foundation for Better Living
The Universal Foundation for Better Living, or UFBL, is a New Thought denomination that was founded in 1974 by Johnnie Colemon in Chicago, Illinois. Colemon founded the foundation as an association for African American New Thought ministers after ...
'', or ''UFBL'', was founded in 1974 by Johnnie Colemon in Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
after breaking away from the Unity Church for "blatant racism".[DuPree, S.S. (1996) ''African-American Holiness Pentecostal movement: an annotated bibliography.'' Taylor & Francis. p 380.]
See also
* Apotheosis
Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term has ...
* Christian Science
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...
* Divinization (Christian)
* Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
* Idealism
In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...
* Law of attraction
* New religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
* Panentheism
Panentheism ("all in God", from the Greek language, Greek grc, πᾶν, pân, all, label=none, grc, ἐν, en, in, label=none and grc, Θεός, Theós, God, label=none) is the belief that the Divinity, divine intersects every part of Univers ...
* Prosperity theology
* Religious Science
* ''The Secret'': 2006 film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
and book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...
* Theosophy
Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...
* Transcendentalism
* Universalism
Persons
* James Allen
* Uell Stanley Andersen
Uell Stanley Andersen (September 14, 1917 – September 24, 1986) was an American football player and self-help and short story author during the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known for his book, ''Three Magic Words.''
Biography
Born to Norwegian ...
* Grace Mann Brown
* Rhonda Byrne
* Robert Collier (author)
Robert Collier (April 19, 1885 in St. Louis, Missouri – January 9, 1950) was an American author of self-help and New Thought metaphysical books in the 20th century. He was the nephew of Peter Fenelon Collier, founder of ''Collier's Weekl ...
* Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
* Emmet Fox
Emmet Fox (30 July 1886 – 13 August 1951) was an Irish New Thought spiritual leader of the early 20th century, primarily through years of the Great Depression, until his death in 1951. Fox's large Divine Science church services were held in Ne ...
* Neville Goddard
Neville Lancelot Goddard (February 19, 1905October 1, 1972), generally known as Neville Goddard, was a Barbadian New Thought author and mystic who wrote on the Bible, esotericism and is considered to be one of the pioneers of the "law of assumpt ...
* Charles F. Haanel
Charles Francis Haanel (May 22, 1866 – November 27, 1949) was an American author, philosopher and a businessman. He is best known for his contributions to the New Thought movement through his book ''The Master Key System''.
Personal ...
* Napoleon Hill
* Ernest Holmes
* Christian D. Larson
Christian Daa Larson (1874–1954) was an American New Thought leader and teacher, as well as a prolific author of metaphysical and New Thought books. He is credited by Horatio Dresser as being a founder in the New Thought movement. Many of La ...
* Joseph Murphy
* Norman Vincent Peale
Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was an American Protestant clergyman, and an author best known for popularizing the concept of positive thinking, especially through his best-selling book ''The Power of Positive ...
* Florence Scovel Shinn
* Martha Jean Steinberg Martha Jean "The Queen" Steinberg (September 9, 1930 – January 29, 2000) was an influential African-American radio broadcaster and later was also the pastor of her own church.
She was born Martha Jean Jones in Memphis, Tennessee. Her first radio ...
* Ralph Waldo Trine
Ralph Waldo Trine (October 26, 1866 – November 8, 1958) was an American philosopher, author, and teacher. He wrote many books on the New Thought movement. Trine was a close friend of Henry Ford and had several conversations with him about su ...
* Iyanla Vanzant
Iyanla Vanzant (born Rhonda Eva Harris; September 13, 1953) is an American inspirational speaker, lawyer, New Thought spiritual teacher, author, life coach, and television personality. She is known primarily for her books, her eponymous talk sho ...
* Wallace Wattles
Wallace Delois Wattles (; 1860 – 7 February 1911) was an American New Thought writer. He remains personally somewhat obscure, but his writing has been widely quoted and remains in print in the New Thought and self-help movements.
Wattles' bes ...
* William Walker Atkinson
* Catherine Ponder
Catherine Ponder (born February 14, 1927) is an American minister and founder of Unity Church Worldwide, affiliated with the Unity Church, and author of several New Thought books on mainly focused on the theme of prosperity.
Early life
Ponder w ...
Citations
General bibliography
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* Anderson, Alan and Deb Whitehouse. ''New Thought: A Practical American Spirituality''. 2003.
* Braden, Charles S. ''Spirits in Rebellion: The Rise and Development of New Thought'', Southern Methodist University Press, 1963.
* Judah, J. Stillson. ''The History and Philosophy of the Metaphysical Movements in America''. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1967
Review
by Neil Duddy.
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External links
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{{Religion topics
Panentheism